The system of Education which Mr. Gandhi apparently wants to introduce
has already been tried in some parts of India. The results of a teaching
confined to Eastern classics and vernaculars has already been apparent.
It has produced a mentality amongst Hindus and Mahomedans which has
divided them from one another. It has separated still further the
Brahmins from non-Brahmins, the caste Hindus from the noncaste Hindus.
It has again produced amongst those who have received that education a
vague longing for speculative theories and a distaste for experiment and
research by which, theories may be tested. Of course Mr. Gandhi does not
know these results. His speeches and writings do not show that he ever
cared to enquire into these questions. He does not want education to be
imparted to the masses and Western education to be imparted to anybody
for the reason that it would make them discontented with their present
lot in life, _i.e._ in other words he wants each class to remain in its
present condition, the lower castes, slaves of their masters--the higher
classes. This consequence follows from his acceptance of the caste
system. He says "Varanashram (caste system) is inherent in human nature
and Hinduism has simply reduced it to a science. It does attach by
birth. A man cannot change his Varna by choice. Prohibition against
intermarriage and interdining is essential for a rapid evolution of the
soul." He would relegate those Hindus outside the pale of caste, the
panchamas or the so-called degraded classes, by whatever name they are
called, to degradation for the service of the higher castes. His
writings or speeches do not show any knowledge of Indian History and
having spent the main portion of his life in a far-off country the evils
of the system perhaps never came to his knowledge. Otherwise he would
have learnt the following facts. It is this caste system which has
brought about the conquest of India by the Mahomedans and the
Englishmen, both of whom were always supported by the lower castes
against the higher. It is responsible for the large conversions to
Christianity and Mahomedanism. It is responsible for a degradation of
humanity for which no parallel can be found in slavery, ancient or
modern. It is responsible for a good deal of Hindu-Mahomedan, Brahmin
non-Brahmin problem and stands in the way of our social, economical and
political progress. Yet Mr. Gandhi supports the system, though he
advocates the removal of one or two blots which hardly affect the main
structure. He enters on an elaborate disquisition on the benefits and
necessity of caste which will not do credit to Macaulay's fourth form
schoolboy. He shows no knowledge of the vast literature on the subject
or of the main arguments against it. He is supporting the caste system
to secure the support of the higher castes, without whose financial
support his agitation must collapse. One of his own followers would have
told him that caste has killed all the arts and science in this country.
Sir P. C. Ray points out in his history of Hindu chemistry:--"the fear
of losing caste was thus responsible for the loss of the faculty of
independent enquiry and hence for the decline and decay of all the arts
and sciences for which India was once so famous." Of course he does not
want that education which is indispensable for those who occupy the
higher Government offices in the country. He does not want that
education which is essential for the development of Indian manufacturing
industries and development of mineral resources.
Mr. Gandhi accordingly made his wicked attempt to destroy the National
Hindu University of Benares and the Mahomedan University of Aligarh.
They combined Eastern and Western learning. The attempt was happily
unsuccessful. Strong pressure was put upon the students to leave the
Schools and Colleges. Looking to the final results as disclosed in the
Report of the Congress Secretary reviewing the work of 1921, Government
have reasons to congratulate themselves. By far the majority of the
aided institutions in Bengal have been recognised by the Educational
Authorities to be very inefficient and they have been attempting either
to disaffiliate them or reduce their numbers to give more efficient
instruction to those who remain, as a good number of them were
institutions started for commercial purpose. It is remarkable that the
great majority of the students who obeyed the Congress cause belonged to
these aided institutions. Those who left the Government Schools and
Colleges with better discipline and more efficient teaching were very
few if any. I would refer the reader for further information as to the
results of the education campaign to the speech of the President of the
Thana conference, a genuine patriot who happens, however, to be one of
Gandhi's followers (App. VI).
Mr. Gandhi asked all the boys to withdraw now from the schools on the
pretence that until the Government punishes the Punjab offenders in the
manner advocated by him and satisfies the claims of the Khilafatists we
should no longer associate with the Government, and we can there-by
hasten the advent of Swaraj. This is a mere pretext. He advocated the
substitution of the national kind of education as outlined by him in
favour of the present system of education long before there was any
Punjab or Khilafat questions. He advocated them in 1908 in his book "The
Indian Home Rule." To say now that he advocated them on account of those
reasons is sheer hypocrisy. The step will not hasten but might retard
Swaraj. Even if the Punjab wrongs are redressed in the manner suggested
and even if the Khilafatists are satisfied and Parliamentary Swaraj
obtained, he will still be an advocate of the abstention from English
Schools in favour of the system of national education as above set forth.